As I sat watching Aston Villa destroy Liverpool on Friday night I had an unexpected internal reaction: I wasn't surprised. The defending champions have fallen so far that a 4-2 defeat in which their brilliant, if ageing, centre back Virgil van Dijk was their most potent attacking weapon no longer had any real shock value. They may well get into the Champions League again by the skin of their teeth but they are a massive 25 points behind where they finished last season, with only one game to go.
